500 Grams - Jiangsu Province Food Stamp

Chinese provincial food ration coupons are among the most overlooked collectibles in East Asian paper ephemera. Jiangsu's grain bureau issued these through a rationing infrastructure that had been in place since the mid-1950s, and they remained in active use until the national ration system was formally abolished in 1993 — meaning this 1986 piece was produced well into the reform era, when market liberalization was already eroding the system's practical necessity.

Jiangsu coupons from this period circulated at the county and municipal level and were not valid across provincial borders — a deliberate restriction that made hoarding across regions nearly impossible.